Angola by Arthur Lee

Art flies charters in Angola. An interesting and challenging job that takes him into some areas where life is far different from what we are used to.

Art, taking a break at Club Naval, Luanda.

You've got a real tough job, Art.

The crew getting ready to head for the airport.

Some typical dwellings in Lubango. Wonder who mows the grass on the roof?

Some scenery in South Eastern Angola. Art is checking out possible fishing spots.

The cockpit and radio stack on the Twin Otter. What are those warning lights flashing for, Art?

The Otter on the ramp in Sumbe.

View of Sumbe, about an hour down the coast from Lunada, in the twin Otter.

 

Flight deck of the Beechcraft B1900D.

Flying north between Lubango and Luanda, approaching the Atlantic Ocean

 

Roadside market south of Luanda.

Kayak, Camping & Wingtip Vortex by Art Lee

When I was just thirteen in 1963, my father was transferred, by the Army to Richmond B.C. That turned out to be a good place for me since Vancouver International Airport is on Sea Island and I was always interested in airplanes. I even managed to scrounge a few rides in a 172 and occasionally in a Sea Bee amphibian. Also washed quite a few at the hefty rate of three dollars per plane.

The Fraser River flows around both sides of Sea Island. In the summer of 1965 a friend of mine bought a two seat homebuilt kayak. It was constructed of wood, painted a bright red and came with one double ended kayak paddle. We picked up a spare straight paddle for emergencies, like getting ashore should we lose or break the kayak paddle. We also had wet weather gear and life jackets. It was great fun! We kids spent many nights on the beach side of Sea Island directly in line with Vancouver's runway 26. In those days it wasn't as built up as now. There was some development but also there were trees and fields, and on the dyke along the road ran the powerline and telephone poles.

We took it out almost every night. We'd sneak around in the marinas and criss cross the river sometimes purposely riding up and over dead head logs whenever we found one. One evening, well after dark while paddling around somewhere near a marina a Police Boat spotted us, came over and gave us a lecture. Dangers of all types for us in a rig like that and the bad one was no running lights! They made us take it out of the water and let us off with a warning. We knew we just had to fix the problem. So we did. We took it home and painted it dull black. Just try and find us now!!

After putting it back in the water we celebrated by picking up the usual hot dogs and buns, camping gear, and paddled down the South Arm to our favorite campsite, in line with runway 26. It was plenty dark and we had a campfire going. The kayak was simply pulled up onto the beach and the whole scene looked impressive, for a couple of kids anyway. One reason we always chose that spot is that soon after the noise of a large plane passed overhead on final to land, you could hear the wingtip vortices. If the wind was calm they sounded quite sharp.

Back then there were DC-8's as well as 6's & 7's. It was the end of the piston era. In the distance on a right base to 26 the lights of a small plane could be seen, and it turned out to be a 172. A large piston plane came over and was shortly followed by the sound of the vortex from it. The 172 turned final not too far behind it but it was a little bit too low and not above the large aircraft's path of decent.

We were just munching on hot dogs and watching, when the 172 rolled rapidly to it's left and plunged down. With that we both jumped up and watched in disbelief. The pilot applied full throttle and it looked at first as though it would crash across the river. At this point it was turned ninety degrees to it's original flight path. We could hear the exhaust barking off the far shore as it travelled along for what seemed like long seconds parrallel to River Road. It then began to climb and looked as thought they were going to make it. I watched the green light and rotating beacon when there was a loud crashing sound and the wing tip lights were rapidly showing red then green several times and then it plunged out of sight. We kicked sand on the fire and jumped into the kayak-this is where all of our practice paid off- we made it across the river in no time, just passing the paddle back and forth and going as fast as we could.

We pulled the boat up to shore and ran down the road looking for the wreck. At first it was hard to find. We even stopped a car and told them what we had seen but the guy just drove off saying he would 'call the police'. Probably on us. Then we spotted the plane in a field. It had gone a good distance and when we got to the wreckage we saw that it had come to rest upside down.

Two of the occupants were lying on the ground not too far from it and two others were still inside. One fellow was lying on the ceiling with the other across him and he looked like he could get suffocated. We also noticed that several seats were ripped right out of the rails. We helped get the last two out and pulled them a safe distance from the plane and covered them with our wet weather gear. They were all breathing and one was even up on one arm and yelling 'don't touch me'! So we didn't, but let him know that help was on the way. He was probably in shock and would have no memory that anyone was there.

Shortly after everyone was out we heard the police and ambulance sirens and also a number of onlookers had shown up. Once the police came and the ambulance attendents with their stretchers, everyone was ordered to leave and stay out of the way. We just asked if we could have our gear back. Then they realized we were witnesses to this, so of course they got our names and said that the aviation accident investigators would be in touch the next morning. Several police officers walked along with us back to the dyke and were probably wondering just what kind of a boat we came over in. There it was, this dull black kayak and they just watched us put on our gear, slide it into the water and just kind of disappear from sight. I remember them looking at each other and then, under the circumstances just let us paddle off.

We paddled back and stopped by the corner store. All of our buddies were there and had already heard the story. When we got home, our parents already knew what had happened that night. We were taken back to the sight the next day and it fit exactly to what we had seen. The plane had nearly recovered except the left wing and stabiliser had caught the wires along the dyke and then cartwheeled right through some trees and into an open field. The left stabiliser was on the dyke, a long way from the plane's final resting place and it had sheared branches off trees, missing a direct contact with one. All this explained the red and green lights showing several times.

The prime cause of the crash was getting caught in the vortex of a large plane. Also as far as I know all four of the people from the plane survived. The Vancouver Sun newspaper sent out a photographer and they put us on the tv news. The newscaster said "Arthur Lee on your left and Bill Manning on your right were paddling thier kayak down the Fraser River on Friday night when they saw an aircraft crash....". It was nice to be thanked for it but all in all so much for the "stealth" kayak. Everybody knew us now.

Hope you enjoyed this true story, Regards, Art Lee